Boundaries in Culture

I was struck by the description that Stephen Greenblatt gave to the concept of culture, describing it as being defined by opposites, constraint and mobility.  These terms caused me to reflect on the nature of culture as a means of controlling the behavior of its members and how it defines the boundaries of acceptable behavior.  Greenblatt calls them “models to which individuals must conform”. 

    The author uses the terms “improvisation, experiment, and exchange” to describe how cultural boundaries are established.  I think about our own culture and how it changed during my lifetime.  Whereas today we Americans are used to a wide latitude in acceptable social behavior and have few limits put on our mobility, not so many years ago, especially in the 1950’s and early 1960’s, the boundaries were being tested and moved.  All I have to do is think of the scandal that Elvis produced when he first jumped on the stage and started gyrating in front of his audience.  The cultural changes that started during this time are manifest today in such social phenomena as the large number of marriages ending in divorce, single-parent households, and gay lifestyles.  Was the old order better?

The role of literature in the enforcement of cultural boundaries is another subject the author discusses.  By using praise and blame in literary works an author can pronounce judgment on members of a culture of whom the author either appreciates or disapproves.   But as Greenblatt says, the arguments used lose their effectiveness as time goes by and as the culture changes. For us today to understand works like these requires knowledge of the culture portrayed.   

  With respect to literary style, Greenblatt says that literature that pushes against the boundaries of culture is what “students of literature reserve their highest admiration for”.  This is what I like in literature, too.  I couldn’t have said it better.  I’m always looking for works that are “different”. For example, I particularly like Emily Dickinson for her odd perspective on the world and I always think of her poem “I’m nobody, who are you?” as an example of her unique perspective on the culture of her time.  

Cultures are constantly evolving and as they do the boundaries of acceptable behavior are moving.  I only wonder what our culture will look like in 100 years. Certainly it won’t be like today, but we probably won’t even notice the changes because they will take place so gradually.